New Recuit
by Victoria Annabelle
Summary: AU *First fanfic* Set in "30 Days Without an Accident", Instead of Rick finding 'Crazy Clara' he finds Charlotte, a fourteen year old girl, lost and separated from her group. What will this new addition do to the group now that there is a contagion in the prison. Rated T to be safe.


Season Four Episode One: What if it wasn't Clara that Rick found in the woods? What if it was Charlotte, a fourteen year old girl who was separated from her group. Will Rick let her stay, and how will she affect the new group dynamic?

Chapter 1: Three Simple Questions

Rick slowly approached the deer caught in their snare they had set. It appeared to be barely breathing, so Rick decided to put it out of it's misery. As he crept closer trying not to draw attention from any walkers that might happen by, he noticed something shifting in the bushes off to the side. Rick faltered, he had not killed anything, walker or human, since their fight with Woodbury, and he did not want to start up again, but he was willing to do so, begrudgingly.

He rounded the corner, but Rick wasn't sure at what he saw. There was a girl, maybe about sixteen, leaning over something hidden from his sight, her dark hair covered most of her from view, but Rick could see that her were very sluggish. If she was still alive she probably hadn't eaten in quite some time. Rick took another step towards her, subsequentially snapping a twig under his boot.

The girl's movements gave away her humanity. Almost quicker than Rick could see, she spun around, flipping open a switch blade in the process and stood at her her full height. Behind her, Rick could see she had been rifling through an old, dirty backpack. He could not see the contents of her bag, but guessed that she was running low on what ever supplies she had to start with.

Rick looked back up at the girl, she looked dead on her feet, no pun intended. Her eyes were bloodshot and showed an overwhelming amount of sadness, Rick recognized this look as the one he had when Lori had died... right before he snapped. He would have to ask her a few more questions than they usually did to see if she too would snap. Her lids seem to droop every second as she fought to stay awake and she swayed softly about to fall down at any moment.

After a minute or so, the girl recognized that Rick was no threat, having backed up and set down his gun on the ground. She flipped her knife back and slipped it in its place on her belt, her eyes swept a worried glance at the machete on Rick's belt. Rick took the chance to introduce himself, "Um... I'm Rick, are you okay?" At the sound his voice the girl glanced back up looking at him with the desperation of a lost child too far from home in her sorrowful eyes, "Name's Charlotte, I don't mean to be a nuisance, but would you happen to have any food to spare, maybe some water?... anything really." Rick was shocked at the pain in Charlotte's voice, she sounded tired, in physical pain, and aged beyond her years, but most survivors were at this point, "Yeah, but I have some questions to ask you before we get back to the camp, but first, how old are you Charlotte?" She seemed to be really thinking this one out, her brow furrowed in concentration, "I'd say fourteen, it's been about three years since all this right?" Rick nodded his head, "My guess is about mid-fall 2013." Charlotte nodded right back.

"Okay Charlotte, there are three main questions, but I think that I am going to need to ask a few more, alright?" She nodded her head and sat down on the ground resting her back on the tree behind her. Rick was worried this poor girl might not even be able to walk back to the prison. "First question; how many walkers have you killed?" Charlotte seemed confused for a second, "You mean those dead things? ..." she paused, thinking, "I'm sorry, I can't quite remember, my group ran into a few herds and there were too many falling to know who got which." Rick nodded, it was a reasonable response, not the best, but with herds you can't be quite sure.

"Next question; how many people have you killed?" Charlotte got a stern look on her face, trying to find a way to word what needed to be said, after a few moments in silence she answered, "Well, a few months back, some of our group was out scouting; an older man, a boy in his late teens and myself, when we ran into a larger group, all men, very intimidating, told us they too were out scouting that they had others at their camp, I could tell that it was a lie, just the look in their eyes. When we refused there offer several more times, they decided to take us by force. They started shooting at us and we retreated, but they were persistent. We were forced into a stand off where we killed many of their men, the fight had drawn walkers in, so they retreated before our ammo had run out. Jackson, the older man, ended up being bit, but before we could take him back to be buried, someone had to make sure he didn't come back. Steven was already in tears, shaking from the whole experience, I don't even think the boy had killed a walker before then and he had just shot down men. I took it upon myself to make sure Jackson was dead that day. When we got back, I told them Steven had done it, knowing the repercussions he would get for making a kid do that. So, to answer your question, including Jackson, eight. I have killed eight people"

Rick was surprized at the ease at which she said this, but it seemed like she knew the wrong she had done, it all came to the last question of course, he sighed. "So, why? Why did you kill the walkers, the people?" She looked at him as if he were stupid, "Don't you know, you've been in this world long enough." Rick nodded, "I just need to hear it from your mouth, sometimes the most reasonable killing can have the most illogical reason." This time it was Charlotte who sighed before looking Rick right in the eyes before answering, "Survival. If we hadn't have killed the walkers they have would eaten us, if we hadn't of killed those men then they would have killed us, when Jackson 'woke' as a walker he would have killed us too. The only reason I have ever killed was to survive, if just a little bit longer." Rick was surprized that he didn't want throw this girl out now, but her answers were thoughtful and logical.

Maybe a few more questions wouldn't hurt, better save those for someone in a better state of mind though. "You did well, Charlotte, but when we get back, after you eat, your going to need to see one of my friends. He's going to ask you a few more questions, okay?" Rick noticed she was almost asleep when she nodded. Rick hurriedly helped her off the ground.

It was a good thing they hadn't been too far from the prison. As they started walking, Rick knew he had to at least try to approach the subject, "So Charlotte, what happened to the rest of your group?" Charlotte stopped walking, her eyes glazed over and she sat back down. She took a slow, jagged breath before answering in a strained voice, "Herd. They got us in the middle of the night. We had been staying at an abandoned house for a few months and had grown a little lax. The guy on watch that night had fallen asleep, by the time the rest of us had woken up they were at our back door, quite literally."

Rick could see that she was having a hard time with this so he decided to change the subject, " What were you doing when all of this hit?" She had a sad smile on her face when she answered, "I was at my sister's house in L.A. for Thanksgiving break. I had been so excited to visit my sister, sister, of all my family she was the one I was closest to. We didn't hear about the outbreak until the next day. They said there was dead people walking around, we thought they were crazy, but I checked the news anyway, as you know they were right. All the phones were out and the Internet was down, at least the water was still on. We were filling everything in the house with water. My nephews were so scared when the lights wouldn't turn on."

"How old were they?" Well, at the time, Zachary was three, Mikey was two, and Jamie had just been born two weeks before and let me tell you, it's hard to find baby formula out there." Rick nodded, boy did he know, Charlotte took another breath before continuing. "My mom had been in the hospital from just having surgery, so she didn't come with me to visit. We spent a few weeks in Ashley's, my sister's, house before we had to move on. I had always dreamed of living with my sister, but that was not how I expected it. We started trying to go north towards where the rest of our family was, but we never found any of our family. When we got to each house they were already scavenged for anything, bit I was able to grab some family photos before we left.

"We tried to make it to my brother's house in Colorado, but we must have been navigating too far south. We ended up passing it completely. We made it all the way all the way to Oklahoma before we met others. It was another group, about twelve people; three other children about eight years old: two girls and one boy, each with a set a parents, a boy about fifteen and his older sister at twenty-two. The boy was Steven, as long as I have known him he never had or could kill a thing, sweet kid, but too weak for this world, you have to be willing to fight; for your life and the lives of those you love.

"About a month later we were near the outskirts of Little Rock when we were attacked by a herd. There was only about twenty or so, but we were unprepared. Most of our group didn't have any experience with guns, but my step father had shown me how to use one when I was eight and I was a pretty good shot. We had run into a few gun stores and I had been trying to show the others how to shoot. When the younger kids went to sleep, I stayed up to help any way I could, but ended up being the babysitter for a long time. That night though, the kids were already in bed and the rest of us were sitting by the fire, we probably would have had more casualties if Molly, one of the little girls hadn't had a nightmare. She came out of the tent she shared with her parents, one of the few tents still left in the sporting good store we checked. She never made it over to her parents, but we all heard her scream. We ran over to her but it was too late. The walker had eaten most of her entrails and her neck was barely attached. My sister tried to get me to go back to the tent but I snuck back out. Behind the walker was a much more pressing issue. The rest of his herd.

"We quickly gathered the meager weapons we had, leaving Steven to watch the kids, but of course he had to come back out to check on his sister, I don't blame the kid, but it would have been better if he hadn't. He choked up when walkers started to surround him, he couldn't kill them. His sister came to save him before he got bit, fighting off the walkers. She ended up getting bit, she didn't let anyone know until she was too sick too lie. We ended up burying her two days later after she died from the fever. She wasn't the only one who was lost though, all in all six people died from the walkers. Molly, her father Tom; both of Paul's parents: David and Marge; Steven's sister Alison; and Brain, my sister's husband and nephews' father. Those last two died the next day from the fever.

"The whole group was in a state of shock. We had never lost anyone in our group and now we were dwindled down to almost half. Even Sarah and her parent who didn't lose any real family were mourning over the loss of a new-found family. It took us about two weeks before we could leave that spot and get back on the road, though everyone was still grieving, some more than others. It was hard seeing my sister so heartbroken, she hid it well, but she's still my sister I can see her pain right behind the facade. I was always tried to get a smile on the kids faces. Some thought I was being immature, but I was just trying to ease the pain of a lost parent.

"We kept moving after that dark time, each time more and more east each time we were close to running out of ran into a few people along the way: Jen, her fourteen year old sister, Emma; a couple in their early twenties: Kevin and Amelia; and two men in their thirties: Jackson and Caleb. The older I got the more and more I went out scouting with the men. Usually, it was Jackson, Caleb, Kevin, George (Sarah's father), and myself. The first time Steven came was the time that Jackson died.

"The last scouting mission had gone bad. We were sent to check a local supermarket. It had looked abandoned but at closer inspection it was filled with walkers, too many too handle. Before we could retreat Caleb and Kevin tripped over each other and were consumed in the walkers. The walkers were too busy eating them they didn't see us get away. We didn't want to leave them, but there was nothing left to bring back. When we got back, after learning of the death of Kevin, Amelia killed herself. We lost a lot that day. We kept moving though. I always tried to visit my sister and her boys before going on any trip, never knowing if this would be the last time I would see them. She would always try to convince my to stay behind, but we both knew that my stuborness would win out at the end of the day. It was all I could do to contribute and I wanted to do it thoroughly. I never though it would be the walkers that would separate us."

Charlotte's breathing became increasing labored as she retold her story, by the end, tears were rolling down her face as she faught to keep her self composed. Rick sat down beside her saddened by this lost child. He slowly helped her back to her feet, stabilizing her before stepping back to give her her space. He didn't want to intrude. Charlotte Slowly regained her composure, giving Rick a small smile in thanks, she then proceded to followed Rick back to the prison, to a new life in this broken world.


End file.
